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Return of Ezra
The Return of Ezra '''is the first and second chapter of Season Two of the '''Mind of Ezra series. It takes over a year jump, and includes a new setting, as well as retaining the alliance/secret agent theme at the end of Season One. Five new characters are introduced, Brendan, Henry, Samantha, Hecate Calder and Carver, who has been mentioned in Sinister Events, Pt. II, as well as a group of other unspecified characters, who carry the "jock guy " identity. Plot Warning: It is advised you do not read this before the full story, spoilers are contained below! *Ezra enters his new college dorm room, with his heavy bag of luggage, and reunites with an old bully, Carver, who appears to have changed. Ezra is still highly inititally highly suspicious and uncomfortable around him. *Ezra learns there dorm room arrangement has been miscalculated, and ends up in a dorm room with a group of rowdy guests. He resorts to sneaking out to another dorm room under the nose of the supervising teachers who are instructed to stay strict to the dorm arrangements. *A reuinion between Ezra and Mrs. Tanen takes place. Mrs. Tanen is keeping her secret agent agenda low profile. Ezra and the crew all reunite. He meets three new buddies from Dane's dorm- Brendan, Henry and Sam. They are unaware of Ezra and his friend's past. When the three newbies leave the room, Mrs. Tanen informs them of some crime activity. *That night, Ezra and Mrs. Tanen suspect a far more dangerous threat, which is threatening the whole college. Adrien and a new ally, the widow Hecate Calder, are revealed to be behind it (unbeknownst to the characters as of yet). Read: Part One It was time. With a black travel bag on his shoulder, and another bag clenched in his right hand, which Ezra felt could have stopped a house from blowing away during a cyclone, he took his first step into the dorm room he would be seeing every five days for the next three years he was spending at the college. He looked behind him, expecting to see Dane, Sarah and Muhammad trailing behind, but there was no one. He carefully selected his bed, the top bunk in the corner of the room, beside the large window and blinds, and placed his bags on top of the wardrobe beside it. As it hit the top of the wardrobe, he felt like he had just placed a territorial marker. No one was to trespass. Ezra swung his back around and faced the rest of the dorm room. He breathed in and out slowly, taking in the new environment. It had a suspiciously relaxed feel about it, but did not feel at all welcoming. Ezra assured himself that everything is going to be fine. A week or two of adapting, and he’ll be stuck into a college life. All the opportunities are at his fingertips, and everything he needs is at his feet. He will enjoy himself along the way. He hadn’t had any evil prophecies for the last twelve months, he was even slightly convinced that all that had been through his mind the year earlier was a mere concurrence. Those days had passed. They were rarely spoken of anymore. There was little reason for those times to ever come back. Ezra was on top of his study habits, and despite his parent’s unsettling break-up, he had no reason to erupt. Everyone goes through different phases.. There was a rational explanation. So he thought. The city was in peace again, the media had poked all they could, with everyone back to their previous mindset that everywhere else is worse off, and thinking otherwise would seem irrelevant. Ezra managed a soft smile, and turned to glance at his bag again, making sure it was secure, and walked towards the door to see where the others were at. He passed through the doorway to be greeted with an old face. A face that was also the face of Ezra’s childhood fears. It was Carver. As Carver gazed into Ezra’s eyes, vidid memories flashed through his mind. Memories so vivid he felt he had taken a big step backwards for a moment. He remembered himself hanging from the hook of the bag rack, for about half an hour, his pants stretching to the width of his whole body. He remembered wiping his face off after having it dunked into the toilet. He remembered the good old $1 toll required to use the school bathroom, or the alternative knuckle sandwich. Then he remembered how he overcame it. ‘I’m not afraid of you, you can’t hurt me’. “I’m-” Ezra’s thoughts almost slipped out of his mouth, which would’ve been a bad mistake, but just in time he was cut off. “Excuse me, Ezra,” said Carver, squeezing past, trying not to hit Ezra with his luggage. “So do you mind if I sleep here?” Carver turned his head to Ezra, his eyes wide open, like some sort of puppy waiting for his master’s approval. “Yeah...” Ezra felt around in his pocket for a dollar coin, imagining if he didn’t hand it over he’d get punched in the face. Then he remembered, this was not high school anymore. He had defeated Carver. By getting teacher protection. And moving all classes. Which he didn’t have now. Then Ezra began to think. No, he didn’t defeat him. He ran away. He didn’t face his fears. Why was Carver being like this? It’s a trick. He is going to get back at Ezra. “Ezra, are you feeling, okay? Hmm, look, if it makes you feel better, I will move so you don’t have to my head as you sleep.” Carver pulled his luggage over to the bed across the other side of the room. Ezra kept his eyes pinned on his own luggage, hoping Carver wouldn’t lay his hands on it. Now, that was just overreacting, he thought. Why am I doing this, it’s clear he’s changed. I can make a friend out of him. Why, I can even be the bully this time round, I’m taller than him now. Suddenly another figure stepped into the room. “Marge!” Ezra shouted gladly. Marge, Margaret Tanen, stood tall in the doorway. She was dressed in her usual attire. “Ezra, zip it, haven’t you heard about the gathering? They’ve stuffed up the dorm room lists, which is no surprise, now get a wriggle along, and you too, Clever. I mean, Carver, pft, Clever.. haha..” Mrs. Tanen walked out of the room holding her clipboard as usual. Ezra smiled. He looked behind him to see Carver, looking crushed. Ezra’s worried mood had suddenly subsided. He felt assured again. Mrs. Tanen was here to protect him. But then a vibe of uncertainty dipped in again. But she’s an agent, agents don’t have time for bullies.. Ezra thought deeply, as he walked out of the room. Carver trailed along sheepishly. Ezra walked into the meeting hall, where hundreds of students were gathered. “You’re lucky, there are a few spare seats, but if I had it my way you’d be on the floor,” said Mrs. Tanen, staring fixedly at Ezra through her clean glasses. “Sit.” Ezra sat down next to Muhammad and Sarah, who smiled at Mrs. Tanen, who was winking at them cheekily. “Mrs. Tanen giving you a hard time?” joked Sarah. “Haha, don’t take it personally, she has to keep up an impression. Oh, and how’s Carver treating you?” “I actually wouldn’t mind him so much, as long as I have you around! Do you think we’ll be sorted into the same dorm room?” asked Ezra. The piercing screech of the microphone suddenly haled the moderate noise of the room. All the students touched their ears and squinted their eyes. “We apologise for the inconvenience, it was due to a bug in the printing system, but we have new dorm room lists up, and we’ve taken in student feedback. *cough* Please take a list as you walk out of the room. I need to call up the following students as well...” As the head of the college continued on in his monotonous voice, Muhammad leaned over to talk to Ezra. “Ezra, there is an unused bed in our dorm. We’re just down the hall from you. You can move your sheets over for the night. When they take the dorm role in the morning, just move yours back to your original dorm room. There’s no arguing with them, they won’t change the lists again for another few weeks.” Ezra sat in his thoughts. Mrs. Tanen suddenly came to his mind. While he was glad she was here with them, he knew something was up. He suddenly felt stupid for thinking what he thought earlier in the dorm. Those days had made him new friends, brought him closer to people in ways he didn’t expect, and he was now a registered member of a secret agency. He was making a difference. But he had a future in mind, and he had to be faithful to his original plans. He was always the kind of person who pre-meditated the path for him. Once something felt right, he had to pursue it and be consistent. He shouldn’t give up and be distracted. He wanted to be a detective. He wanted to grow like everybody else, he wanted to have a normal life and enjoy the journey, instead of it coming to it. But how wrong Ezra was. He was soon to realise he was on a very different path from the average person. Everybody started to get up from their chairs. The sound of the chairs on the hard floor permeated the room. This irritated Ezra. He looked towards the double doorway, and through the crowd of bustling students making their way out, he saw Carver. He looked confused and lonely. Among him were a bunch of muscular guys, in athletic clothes. They were punching each other on the shoulder and laughing. Their laughs were like roars. Ezra couldn’t tell the difference between a stampede of baby rhinoceros and them. They pushed their way past Carver like he was a mere fragment. Carver trailed behind them. They were his dorm buddies. And they were Ezra’s, too. “Ezra...” a soft voice called from behind. “Mr. White!!” Ezra turned around to see Mrs. Tanen, looking a bit more unwound. “Marge.. I mean, yes, Mrs. Tanen?” “We’ll get you out of that room. I can change the roles, but it will take a bit of strings to pull..” “Thank you a lot!” said Ezra, resisting the urge to ask Mrs. Tanen what she was doing here. He felt there would be no point, she was a veteran, she had her reasons. Maybe he should just wait and find out. Ezra walked his way over to his dorm room. And how different the second entrance he made was. The searing fumes of the manliest deodorant filmed the room. Socks and towels, and other gear were hanging all over the place. The guys were all laughing on their beds in their tank tees, throwing their footballs around and making rude jokes. “SUUUUPPP!” one of them called to Ezra. Ezra shyly turned towards him. All of a sudden he felt something hit the back of his head. “Sorry, bro!” said one of the other guys from behind. “My bad, bro!" “Oi, this is what you get for hurting him!” One of the others ditched a ball at the person who accidentally hit Ezra. “Pick on someone your own size!” “Hey, bro, don’t talk to him, he’s an idiot!” called one of the quieter guys in the corner of the room. “Oh, and anything you need, we got free service! But first you gotta show us what you got!” The tall figures proceeded towards Ezra. In the blink of an eye, Ezra grabbed his bag and hurried out of the room. As he ran past, they just stood there in surprise. Ezra ran down the hall towards the dorm room in which Muhammad Praveen, Sarah Scarlett and Dane Young were staying. “It’s Ezra!” Dane laughed. Ezra slammed the door behind him. He could hear the guys picking on Carver down the hall. “This is ''the time Carver needs you most,” Dane laughed. “I do sort of feel sorry for him,” said Ezra. “What do you mean feel sorry?” Dane snickered. “After all that he’s done, you shouldn’t feel the slightest regret!” Read: Part Two The first couple of days were simply touring the facility and learning an outline of the courses. Surprisingly, Ezra hardly saw the savages from his original dorm, and he soon learnt they weren’t going to be there for much longer, as they were part of a football team representing the college, and counting the problems with dorm room assigning, hadn’t been given the specialised guest dorms. It didn’t make things any better when he learnt their stay would be extended. Ezra didn’t have many more problems, as he found times to slip in when they were not there, or when they fast asleep. The final day of orientation ended, and Ezra walked into the dorm room where Dane, Sarah and Muhammad were quietly mingling. He also found a couple new faces who he hadn’t seen before- an impish-faced young man called Henry, a bright-faced, blonde-haired girl called Sam and a slightly overweight, black-haired young man called Brendan. Brendan and Sam had already developed a friendship, and had so with Muhammad and Sarah as well. Dane appeared to be more reserved, not mixing in as strongly, but he found himself relating to Henry. They had, of course, not mentioned their backgrounds or how they met, with their new dorm mates, and had no intentions of doing so at this point. “I’m Sam,” said the blonde-haired girl, smiling bubbly. “It’s great to meet you,” said Ezra. Brendan marched slowly up to Ezra and his eyes pierced into his. “I am.. BREN-DAN!” Brendan stuck his hand out stiffly like a robot. “Okay then, good to meet you,” said Ezra. Brendan patted him on the back. It felt more like a smack, but he chose to dismiss it. Henry stood at the doorway awkwardly. “And Henry?” Dane smile. Henry slowly stepped up to Ezra. “Can you guess what I’m about to say?” Ezra immediately looked at Dane. Dane shrugged back at him. “No, I’m not psychic..” said Ezra. Henry nodded. “But can you guess?” asked Henry. “Hi?” “Yep!” Henry smiled cheekily. He shook hands with Ezra for the next five seconds. Everybody else in the room fidgeted, a little puzzled. Suddenly a bell was heard from outside, and Sam, Brendan and Henry had to be called up somewhere. “Oh, that’s just for the people who did not use to go to the high school in our area, they need extra information,” said Muhammad. “So Ezra... how are you feeling about your parents?” Ezra’s parents had been arrested several times in the last year, for hazardous behaviour on the road, including drink driving and road rage, shop lifting and disruption of public emergency services. During this period they were ordered to separate, but ignored these orders. They then started to blame each other, resulting in their break-up, but not a divorce. Ezra looked through the door to make sure no one was listening. He didn’t feel ashamed telling his most trusted friends, but he didn’t want anyone else to hear. Especially Carver. “So... this weekend I’ll be going to my mum’s for three hours then getting to dad’s late that night and sleeping over.. I’m not telling mum I’m going to dad’s for the night, though, she thinks he’ll leave me home while he goes drinking. He doesn’t even drink anymore. He seemed to drop interest in it the day after he moved out. I wish they’d just be back together. Take the alcohol out, and it’d be fine.” “But that’s what brought them together, isn’t it?” said Sarah. “Well that’s what you told me.” “Yeah well..” “Err.. excuse me, sorry to interrupt,” said Carver. OH NO. Ezra’s brain surged with recoil. Now word was going to go out. He would never make new friends. Nor have a chance getting a new girlfriend. What kind of impression will that put on the girl, she will never think good of a family like that. But this shouldn’t go without a fight. He will make most of the last moments his dignity stands. Ezra pounced at Carver like a lion. He found him surprisingly easy to get to the floor. “IF YOU SAY ONE WORD-” “I won’t!! I won’t!!” Carver bellowed. He brushed himself off and stepped backwards into the wall, cornering himself. Ezra breathed heavily. “EZRA! Stop it!” Dane snapped. “EZRA! STOOP IIIT!” A taunting voice called from down the hall. It was one of the blokes from Ezra’s dorm room. “Come home, little boy!” The guy grabbed Carver around the neck, slammed the door in front of Ezra, and pulled him into the other dorm room. The other boys all stood around in a circle, egging him on. “You gotta wonder..” Muhammad sighed. “Well, revenge is never as sweet when it comes! It has to find its own way into time, you never have control of it,” said Dane. “Alright.. I feel so bad,” said Ezra. Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door. “Clearance approved?” said the familiar voice. “Enter!” said Muhammad and Sarah at once. Mrs. Tanen walked in and gently closed the door behind her. “You’re probably wondering why I’m here..” “To kick Carver’s ass!” said Dane. “To teach us more ninja moves!” said Sarah. “No, there’s just been rumours of.. of..” Tension built up inside Ezra. He had suspected it would come to this. “Break-ins around this college at night, since the agency hasn’t had much activity to focus on, this is a bit of a filler mission for me. Plus, I get to see you guys again! And be mean. You know, Ezra, there’s still an art assignment you owe me from last year..” Ezra laughed. “No seriously,” said Mrs. Tanen. She pulled out a paint canvas. The colours didn’t appear real. In fact they were buttons. “Here, take this. It’s a secret panel. Press Red for emergency, someone will be right over. Green to communicate with us directly. Purple to hear my favourite song from the 90s. And we haven’t configured black yet.” She handed each of them one of the disguised panels. “This must not get in the wrong hands, these cost a lot for our agency, and we don’t want any false alarms.” “Cooool,” said Dane, immediately pressing the buttons. “What the hell are you doing, did you not listen?!” said Sarah, yanking it out of his hands. “It’s not on yet, said Mrs. Tanen. I’ll activate it within an hour.” Mrs. Tanen saluted them and exited the room. That night, Ezra lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling. He had a big day, and didn’t know how to prepare himself for what was ahead... Another even bigger day. He thought about any possible break-ins, but shrugged it off, remembering some of the ninja skills Marge had taught him. As he closed his eyes, he saw patterns of green swirls. He saw the swirls forming familiar shapes which he couldn’t precisely make out. He then heard a splash of water and saw someone collapsing, holding a glass of water. He woke. Ezra got out of bed and walked into the kitchen. He opened the fridge to grab a glass of water, his dream reminded him he was thirsty, but felt the door hit something. An obstruction. He turned the light on to see a student lying on the floor, a pile of glass next to his hand. The students eyes were wide open and his mouth was trembling. Ezra felt his pulse. He was alive. But only just. He immediately ran to his dorm, not worrying about waking anybody up. Suddenly a thought went into his mind. “Spring water is the way to go”, Sarah said, offering each of the crew a glass of water from her tank. Why the hell did I think that? he thought, dismissing it, as he’d only just woken from an odd dream. He was surprised he couldn’t hear the snores of any of the guys in his dorm room. He flicked the light on, but heard none of the usual moaning and hissing that would occur when he usually turned the lights on. In fact, he heard nothing, but small breathes. He looked at each of the beds, to see the guys were frozen, only just managing a tremble. Their eyes were still, looking up at the ceiling. They were all paralysed. Ezra then heard a drip of water echo. But only once. Was this his imagination? Was it a dream? Ezra whipped out his canvas and pressed the red button. Within five minutes, Mrs. Tanen was at the door. “Ezra, is there a good reason for this? I knew I should’ve left it to yesterday to activate this damn..” “No, Mrs. Tanen, you have to see this.” Mrs. Tanen inspected all of the people. They were almost frozen, as Ezra described. They marched across to the other blocks of the college and entered their dorm rooms to find everybody else was frozen stiff as well. They were trapped in their own bodies. “This isn’t normal..” said Mrs. Tanen, lifting her heavy eyes. “Not everyone breathes this bizarrely and trembles at the same time.” They woke the rest of the people up. For the next few hours, until the sun began to rise at 5 AM, they inspected all of the people. A few could move, but only managed a moan. “Alright, we have to analyse the situation,” said Mrs. Tanen. “Why are we the only ones who are not in this state? What is it they all have in common that we don’t?” They all looked at each other cluelessly. “I need a drink,” said Sarah, running back to her dorm to grab some spring water from her pump. “Hmm...” Dane and the rest of them pondered. On the other side of the college, just outside the fence, two dark figures stood as still as the wind. The figure on the right held up her binoculars. She had blonde wavy hair, with streaks of black, that touched her shoulders. She wore a leather jacket. Her hands were gloved in the same leather her jacket was made of. Her face was heavy with makeup, a least it looked that way. The figure on the left was a young man in a trenchcoat and a dark hat. His shades concealed his appearance. “There’s still people moving around in there,” he said. “How can there be? No one would go without water for a day, they use it in their coffee and tea as well, and we blocked the supply of soft drinks to the college...” “Exactly,” the male figure said coldly. “So it is definite then. Ezra foresaw this. He thwarted us. The serum my father ejected in him a year ago obviously had no effect at all.” “I underestimated who we are up against,” said the female figure. “As did I,” said the male figure. He removed his shades. The raw yet dark eyes of Adrien glanced fiercely at the college one last time as he turned his back. “Mrs. Calder...” “Plan B?” Mrs. Calder’s voice responded, slightly more high pitched. “Ezra won’t see this coming.” Back at the college, Ezra tried to phone emergency services, but to no avail. “Someone is blocking our service..” said Mrs. Tanen, holding up a small radio-like device. “Someone, or something, is onto us..” '''Knock, knock.' “I’ll be with you in a moment, Mrs. White shouted out, as she finished polishing her antique statue she recently bought off e-bay, after spending weeks bidding for it. She was preparing her house to look nice for Ezra’s return over the coming weekend. Mrs. White opened the door. “And how may I help you t-” Characters *Ezra White *Dane Young *Muhammad Praveen *Sarah Scarlet *"Marge" Margaret Tanen *Adrien Walden (part two only) *Hecate Calder (part two only) *Ursula White (Mrs. White) *Carver *Brendan *Henry *Samantha Trivia *The setting paragaph of "The Return of Ezra" is inspired by the setting paragraph of the first chapter written, A Bad Day. *The original title of the chapter was going to be "There's Something in the Water". *The chapter has purposely failed to address some of the questions Season One left, to leave more creative opportunity and due to space restrictions (limit four pages per chapter). These will be addressed at some point in Season Two. Category:By Daniel Category:Season Two